SUMMARY: The Sr. Director - Prefab Operations, VDC and Planning leads the people, best practices, means and methods, standards, technology-enabled workflows, and day-to-day operating controls across VDC/Planning and Prefabrication. This leader is accountable for converting project requirements and coordinated model information into constructible, fabrication-ready, material-ready, and field-executable electrical work.
The Sr. Director directly leads the VDC/Planning team and the Prefab Manager, creating one connected operating system from project startup and field planning through coordination, work packaging, fabrication, logistics, installation support, feedback, and closeout. The position balances strategic direction with daily operational leadership and is measured by field value, predictable delivery, safety, quality, labor and schedule protection, team performance, standardization, and continuous improvement, not by model production or prefab hours alone.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: - Lead VDC/Planning managers, leads, coordinators, modelers, and other assigned personnel; directly supervise and develop the Prefab Manager.
- Define the operating model, decision rights, role clarity, service expectations, and handoffs across VDC/Planning and Prefab.
- Build annual and rolling resource plans based on backlog, project complexity, contractual requirements, skill mix, shop capacity, and forecast demand.
- Conduct regular leadership, workload, performance, and development reviews; establish role-based competencies, onboarding, training, mentoring, career paths, and succession plans.
- Create a culture grounded in safety, quality, field service, accountability, respectful collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Own the VDC/Planning and Prefab portfolio operating rhythm, including intake, prioritization, staffing, capacity review, milestone review, constraint escalation, and recovery planning.
- Align VDC effort, prefab demand, production capacity, procurement lead times, logistics, and required-on-site dates with project schedules.
- Monitor planned versus actual hours, forecast-to-complete, production workload, milestone reliability, open constraints, overtime, external support, and cost drivers.
- Approve or recommend resource shifts, outsourcing, technology investment, equipment, tooling, and process changes based on business need and measurable value.
- Partner with project leaders to identify scope changes and changed conditions affecting design effort, fabrication, labor, material, schedule, logistics, or commercial outcomes.
- Provide concise portfolio reporting to operations leadership, including risks, decisions required, corrective actions, and expected impact.
- Ensure effective project startup, including contract and Planning requirement review, scope confirmation, milestone planning, responsibility assignment, platform setup, budget alignment, and escalation paths.
- Oversee model development, multidisciplinary coordination, clash management, constructability review, issue tracking, layout support, and installation deliverables.
- Require field-first planning that addresses installation sequence, access, safety, material handling, supports, bending and pulling requirements, tolerances, inspection, serviceability, and maintainability.
- Ensure teams use current contract documents, approved submittals, engineering direction, field plans, and controlled company standards; confirm assumptions, exclusions, design gaps, and decision ownership are documented before release.
- Lead the Prefab Manager in day-to-day planning and execution of shop capacity, nonunion staffing, production priorities, material readiness, work-in-process, tooling, quality, packaging, staging, and delivery.
- Establish an integrated demand and production-planning process connecting project schedules, look-aheads, approved scope, work-package readiness, material availability, and required-on-site dates.
- Define readiness criteria authorizing release to production; stop or hold work when information, approvals, materials, capacity, or field conditions are not ready.
- Promote repeatable assemblies, standard work, kitting, model-based fabrication, visual controls, and production methods that improve safety, quality, labor productivity, and scalability.
- Ensure changes after release are controlled, communicated, dispositioned, and evaluated for cost, schedule, material, production, and field impact.
- Review production performance and recurring constraints with the Prefab Manager; assign corrective action and verify sustained improvement.
- Ensure each released work package clearly communicates approved scope, drawing/model basis, quantities or BOM information, fabrication detail, location, sequence, quality criteria, packaging, delivery, and installation intent.
- Integrate procurement milestones and supplier lead times into VDC and Prefab plans; ensure the Prefab Manager coordinates with warehouse, logistics, and project teams on staging, labeling, shipment status, delivery windows, site restrictions, and chain of custody.
- Ensure current approved information is accessible in designated systems, obsolete information is controlled, and there is visibility from request through coordination, release, production, shipment, delivery, installation, and field feedback.
- Own or govern VDC/Planning and Prefab standards, SOPs, checklists, templates, naming conventions, data requirements, work instructions, and controlled-document practices; coordinate standards changes across estimating, preconstruction, project management, procurement, warehouse, logistics, and field operations.
- Define milestone-based quality gates and objective acceptance criteria for models, drawings, layout data, BOMs, work packages, fabrication, packaging, and closeout deliverables, with appropriate self-check, peer or independent review, field validation, and documented approval before release.
- Monitor quality performance, exceptions, waivers, defects, field modifications, rework, and recurring failure modes; drive root-cause analysis and corrective action.
- Build regular engagement with operational leaders, DOFOS, planning personnel, and project teams; use look-ahead planning and field input to align model maturity, work-package sequence, prefab timing, logistics, and installation readiness.
- Ensure field teams can locate, understand, and use current approved deliverables; respond to field issues with urgency, document decisions, and prevent recurrence across projects.
- Set practical technology and data priorities that support operating outcomes, with clear process ownership, training, governance, and value measures; guide effective use of Revit, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Trimble, Procore, Remarcable, Microsoft 365, Power BI, and Stratus.
- Create reliable dashboards and operating reviews for demand, capacity, milestones, quality, constraints, production, delivery, field feedback, and corrective action; define a balanced KPI scorecard with trusted baselines and clear ownership.
- Partner with Operational Excellence, IT, and business stakeholders to map workflows, remove waste, automate appropriate steps, and standardize proven improvements; benchmark specialty contractors, manufacturers, and industry peers to identify practices worth scaling.
- Integrate safety and installation risk into constructability, material handling, layout, fabrication, packaging, logistics, and readiness reviews.
- Recognize the limits of VDC/Planning and Prefab authority; route engineering, code, contractual, and field decisions to the responsible party.
- Maintain credible working relationships with architects, engineers, general contractors, trade partners, project management, preconstruction, and field leadership; protect confidential company, employee, client, project, and commercial information.
- Perform other related duties as assigned based on business needs and organizational structure.
EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION: - Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Construction Technology, Operations Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent combinations of electrical trade experience, field leadership, VDC/Planning expertise, prefab operations, technical training, and progressive management responsibility will be considered.
- Ten or more years of progressive experience in electrical construction, VDC/Planning, prefabrication, design-build, project delivery, manufacturing-style operations, or related construction operations preferred.
- Five or more years leading people, managers, departments, programs, or multi-project workloads preferred.
- Demonstrated experience connecting coordinated design information to prefabrication and field installation.
- Experience managing scope, capacity, staffing, budgets/hours, schedules, quality, production risk, stakeholder expectations, and performance reporting.
- Direct specialty-contractor experience and meaningful exposure to field and shop operations are highly valued.
- Strong knowledge of electrical construction systems means and methods, contract documents, submittals, coordination, constructability, work packaging, prefab, layout, material flow, and installation sequencing.
- Working knowledge of Revit, Autodesk Construction Cloud, Procore, Trimble or comparable layout processes, Remarcable or comparable prefab workflow tools, Microsoft 365, Power BI, and Stratus.
- Ability to interpret drawings, specifications, schedules, Planning requirements, scope documents, issue logs, shop information, BOMs, production plans, and operational performance data.
- Understanding of production planning, capacity management, standard work, quality control, change control, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
- Leadership competencies: field-first operational leadership, people and leader development, construction judgment, systems thinking, decision discipline, cross-functional influence, change leadership, and clear, concise communication.
- Valid driver's license and the ability to travel to project sites, offices, and other company locations as needed.
PAY TRANSPARENCY:
The starting salary for this opportunity range is listed. Other rewards may include annual bonus eligibility based on company and individual performance, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. Baker provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, an employee wellness program, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, an Employee-Owned Program (ESOP), paid holidays, and paid time off (PTO). A candidate's salary history will not be used in compensation decisions. Please note that the compensation information is a good-faith estimate for this position. It assumes a rate based on location and experience.
